The rope used to catch and control animals (cattle, sheep, goats, etc.), horses or other livestock is called a lariat or lasso. Such ropes have been used for centuries to catch and secure animals for many different acts of animal husbandry. A lariat or lasso is a rope of fixed length that allows one end, called the tail, to slide through a small loop on the other end, called a honda, so that the resulting loop formed after a majority of the lariat is pulled through the honda can be used to catch and secure the head or feet of an animal.
For several generations the lariat has been used in timed competitions between individuals or groups of individuals. Some of the roping competitions are between individuals and others are between teams of two to four members. Winning success is significantly determined by the performance characteristics of the lariat. Competitors seek to select a lariat which best fits their roping style and ability.
The competitive roping event that draws the largest number of entries is the team roping competition. The event involves two persons, each person riding a horse with a saddle with a saddle horn for wrapping a lariat. One person is called a header, whose goal is to rapidly throw the loop of his lariat around the head or horns of the animal, usually referred to as a steer, that is running ahead of his horse, followed by rapidly decreasing the size of the loop thrown to tighten on the head or the steer's horns and wrapping his or her lariat around the horn of his saddle. The header then leads the steer in a manner such that his team member, called a heeler, can attempt to rope both hind feet with the loop in his lariat, draw the loop tight around the legs of the steer and rapidly wrap his lariat around the horn on his saddle while stopping his horse. The event is completed with the steer being secured between tight header and healer lariats and with each competitor's horse facing the steer.
Several other rules determine the success of each team's competition or run, but the first and absolute requirement is that the header and healer must rapidly rope and successfully secure the steer to their saddle horn. The throwing, catching and securing of the rope to the saddle horn of the steer's head and feet must be done rapidly and without error in order to share in the prize monies paid to the fastest teams. In many team-roping events, the entire event or run must be complete in less than five seconds to share in the prize money. To be competitive in other roping competitions, such as those involving only one person, requires the run to be complete with even faster times.
Because of the need in the team roping event to rapidly catch and secure to the saddle horn the steer's head and hind feet, the lariats being used by the header and heeler must have both the static and dynamic characteristics that allow the highest probability of success. Headers and healers usually use lariats with different static characteristics such as stiffness and weight. Both headers and healers seek a rope with good, and predictable, dynamic characteristics: such ropes are unavailable to today with conventional lariats.
Over the last half century many improvements in the design and construction of lariats have been made with the use of manmade fibers, e.g. nylon and polyester have replaced grass ropes of natural materials like hemp. The use of these new materials and improved methods of construction has improved the ability to produce a stiffer rope, sometimes called by competitors a harder rope or one with more body. New materials and construction machines have allowed not only the stiffness of the rope, but also a lariat's diameter, to be varied to improve the inventory of ropes available.
Most competitions requiring the roping and securing of animals are done using a lariat produced by twisting threads, strings or yarns made of multifilament or monofilament fibers into strands and then twisting the strands around each other to form the length of the lariat (sometimes also sometimes referred as a body.) Some of these lariats have a central core strand about which the twisted strands are twisted in a manner similar to the core twisted ropes that have been manufactured for centuries for other uses. However, the manufacturing of twisted ropes with measurable and repeatable static and dynamic characteristics has not been accomplished.
The design and construction of a lariat with selectable and consistent static and dynamic characteristics is provided in this disclosure. The disclosed lariat would allow a competitor user to reliably select a rope that fits his or her preferred lariat rope feel or body.
The disclosure involves a unique twisted lariat rope and method of manufacturing of a unique twisted lariat rope. The lariat rope provides improved performance over conventional lariat ropes. For example, the lariat rope of the disclosure provides more predictable static and lateral dynamic qualities than existing lariat ropes, thus increasing the likelihood of completing his loop delivery, catching and correctly securing control of the animal that he is roping. The lariat of the disclosure may not be manufactured using conventional equipment and devices without major modification; the disclosure provides a method of manufacturing the disclosed lariat.
Most competitive ropes are twisted ropes. However, some braided or woven ropes are used as ranch ropes or in competitive big loop livestock roping competitions. The design and construction of the disclosed lariat, with selectable and consistent static and dynamic characteristics, is that of a twisted rope.
Additionally, it should be understood that the proportions and dimensions (either relative or absolute) of the various features and elements (and collections and groupings thereof) and the boundaries, separations, and positional relationships presented there between, are provided in the accompanying figures merely to facilitate an understanding of the various embodiments described herein and, accordingly, may not necessarily be presented or illustrated to scale, and are not intended to indicate any preference or requirement for an illustrated embodiment to the exclusion of embodiments described with reference thereto.